


i know this crush ain't goin away

by nonamebut



Category: LOONA (Korea Band), fromis_9 (Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, High School AU, Kim Jiwoo | Chuu is Oblivious, Kim Jiwoo | Chuu-centric, Non-Linear Narrative, Secret Admirer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 18:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20178592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonamebut/pseuds/nonamebut
Summary: On Friday morning, Jiwoo gets an interesting letter from a certain, secret admirer. (Which—spoiler alert—is not even the most interesting thing, because by the weekend, she gets a girlfriend.)





	i know this crush ain't goin away

**Author's Note:**

> [cause the possibility that you would ever feel the same way about me (it's just too much, just too much)](https://open.spotify.com/track/4wCD0qOFNRu1Q6O3N6ycm4?si=Fhc9_fbWQK-xSiLvbQ_YnQ)
> 
> this piece and the other gyuri centric one i also just posted are my first loona/fromis fics, which i wrote to practice for orbit fic fest :D

If on Monday morning you asked Jiwoo what she planned on doing come Friday afternoon, she would tell you she imagined pretty much everything other than this:

She's squinting, covering her eyes from the last stubborn rays of light, trying to catch a glimpse of the admirer that's been sending her the nicest notes and most thoughtful things throughout the day. Asking to meet up at the back of the school, where all the baby potted plants are stored and nurtured before they're eventually planting on campus, was a very strange—if not slightly cute—idea, but that's not really the point here.

Jiwoo isn't a normally nervous person, but Jiwoo also doesn't normally indulge her suitors to this extent, never really letting them into her heart.

And for someone who likes to claim she knows a lot of things about love and romance, she's somehow still lost and clueless on who could possibly be trying to get her attention this way. On who could, possibly, be succeeding at finally getting Hanlim High's very own Cupid fall in love herself.

No, Jiwoo would like to think she's not oblivious. But as the sun lets up and she gets closer and closer to the familiar, etched bark of the tree she claimed months ago, when she first entered high school, she realizes she might not have foreseen as much as she would have liked.

Because there she is. Jiwoo's eyes trail up from where she's been minding stray roots and rocks to find slender legs, the uniform issued skirt. She lingers on a familiar brown messenger bag and the penguin key ring that matches her own.

If on Monday morning you asked Jiwoo what she planned on doing come Friday afternoon, she would tell you she imagined pretty much everything other than this: to receive so many sweet notes, to feel so utterly cherished by the attention and care put into all the gifts meant for her, and her alone.

To realize she's already half in love, that she just needs to take another step, jump right into her own love story.

Jiwoo smiles. "Hey, you."

—

Everything is normal up until the moment Jiwoo walks up to her locker.

Or, well. What she can see of her locker.

"Jungeun? What's going on?" Jiwoo laughs nervously when she nears the row of lockers she was assigned to. For some reason, everyone is crowding around it, some even taking snaps of whatever... that is.

Her best friend is the only one unaffected by it all, leaning casually at the row of lockers opposite Jiwoo's. "You got another secret admirer trying to shoot their shot," says Jungeun. "They left a really interesting note for you."

"Just a note?" That's not enough to attract the entire student body to her locker so early in the morning.

"Yeah, just a note." Jungeun rolls her eyes, adds, "it's the simplicity of it all that's throwing everyone off."

"Alright, alright!" Jiwoo yells and starts pushing her way through the mass of people. "Move, I need to keep my stuff!"

When the crowd finally disperses enough, Jiwoo finally sees the note in question: it's a soft peach post it, a lot like the ones she uses for her own notes, with the words: "Please meet me behind the school after class."

There's an ugly drawing of what looks like some kind of baby animal in the corner of the paper. It's so ugly that it's kind of cute, kind of like a pug—wait, so it's a dog?—and Jiwoo is instantly endeared.

Jiwoo hears more than sees Jungeun elbow her way through the students. "Lippie, this is so sweet!" She turns to her best friend, eyes shining. "Honestly, I'm considering going."

—

Later during gym class, when the freshmen, juniors and seniors from the same section all mingle because they're all assigned the same sport every term, Jiwoo is accosted by all the usual suspects.

"Who do you think it is?" Hyunjin asks, eager and excited. She's probably only acting this way because she might be able to squeeze out some kind of blackmail material.

Jiwoo pretends to be deep in thought. "Hmmmm. It has to be someone I'm friends with, or someone who at least knows me well enough to give me stuff I actually like."

"So it's not my brother, then," Heejin mumbles under her breath, looking very focused as she reties her already immaculately laced running shoes. "No offense, but it would be weird if we became half sisters."

Jiwoo nearly screams.

"What the fuck? Why would Jungkook be interested?" Hyunjin looks like she wants to cry. "Heejin, what are you _ saying _."

The girl in question merely lifts her hands up, as if in surrender. "Hey man, I'm as eager as the next guy to find out which senior is trying their luck this time. We can't just eliminate all possible options."

"Well," Jiwoo says, primly. "It's definitely not Jungkook, his handwriting isn't pretty enough." Hyunjin snorts and indulges Heejin with a high five. "Actually, I get the feeling it's not even a guy."

"Oooh!" Yerim—her classmate, the same aged friend Yerim—barges into their conversation holding several bottles of water. "That's strangely specific. Who do you think it is, then?"

Heejin and Hyunjin refuse the water, holding up tetra packs of whatever they're drinking together with Haseul and Vivi, for some group diet they're all doing. Meanwhile, Jiwoo takes a long gulp of water, preparing herself to admit something she's never allowed herself to even consider in her _ mind _ before today.

"So, I have this hypothesis," she begins, squishing the plastic bottle in her hands. "That the girl that's been trying to get my attention is someone who genuinely likes me? Because even though this person told me to meet her after school, every additional gift or note I get from her always stresses that I don't need to continue indulging her if I ever get uncomfortable."

"So?" Hyunjin gives Jiwoo a strange look. "What does this mean, then?"

It means mystery admirer is a friend. Who knows her well enough to sneak in the snacks she likes into her locker, who knows the right words to sticky note onto her desk. _ Cheer up, Chuu! You've worked hard today. _

"Ughhh, I don't know how to explain this! I mean, you guys know how I get when people... um, confess to me." Heejin hums in assent, bless her heart. "I just think that maybe this person really gets my whole, uh, confession dilemma. And that maybe they might have been right under my nose this whole time..." Jiwoo gets distracted as she notices Gyuri waving a goodbye at her, the senior being excused from the end of gym class for gardening club duties.

At least Heejin has the sense to continue making soft noises of agreement when Jiwoo trails off. Yerim only sighs dramatically. "Chuu, baby, I really don't follow you. This hypothesis, whatever it is? I just hope that you actually really do like the person you think it is." Here, not just Heejin nods enthusiastically.

Jiwoo looks up from the pavement, wills herself not to shoot such an obvious glance at the other side of the track. "Yeah, I really do like her." she says, finding herself watching Sooyoung laugh with Jinsoul and Haseul anyway, where the rest of the seniors have been stretching in the sun.

"Holy shit." Jiwoo's gaze snaps back to Hyunjin, feeling a lot like a tiny mouse caught in the gaze of a devilish cat. "Jiwoo... seriously... ? No!"

—

"So I heard you think your secret admirer is Sooyoung?" Gyuri asks, eyes twinkling with amusement. They're sitting together at the end of the stage as their drama club session wraps up.

Jiwoo squeals and covers Gyuri's mouth with a soft smack. It says a lot that none of their fellow club members comment on Jiwoo's extra antics. "Don't be so loud! I don't want her to know I've figured it out."

"How sure are you that you've figured it out, though?" Gyuri's voice is muffled and Jiwoo remembers herself. Jiwoo retracts her hand sheepishly and pats Gyuri's cheek.

"I don't know anyone else who would give me a whole year's worth of stickers." Jiwoo raises her arm, where she's stuck a bunch of strawberry designs along her wrist. "Also, Ms. Secret Identity wrote a joke in reference to a romance film I posted about recently, and she's one of the only people that follow my private insta. So, problem solved!"

"Hmm. I see."

Something about how unsatisfied Gyuri looks makes Jiwoo feel horrible. Jiwoo grips the straps of her backpack nervously, the fabric twisting in her hands. "Why? Did I miss something? I'm not wrong, am I?"

Gyuri just mirrors her, fingers clutching at the sling of her messenger bag. "Uhh, how would I know?" She laughs awkwardly. Gyuri has always been a bashful, silly senior, but the way she shifts her eyes makes Jiwoo just a bit suspicious.

"You'll find out later, anyway, right?" Gyuri takes a breath and shoots Jiwoo a typical, if not slightly shaky, Gyuri grin. It soothes Jiwoo, as it always does. "Whether you are right or not, I hope that you don't end up too sorely disappointed. You deserve to be so, so happy."

Jiwoo laughs. Somehow she feels kinda breathless? "Ah, thank you, Gyuri. You're always so nice, supporting me..."

There's the laughter Jiwoo loves so much. "And you always support me, Jiwoo. You know I wouldn't be here—" Gyuri gestures vaguely around her, probably referring to drama club and her subsequent landing of lead roles "—without your irreplaceable friendship. Thank you!"

—

Oh, fuck.

So maybe Jiwoo did miscalculate—just a bit. When she confides this to Sooyoung in the third floor girl's comfort room after barraging the senior with several "emergency meet up STAT!!!!!!!!!!!!" texts and dms, Sooyoung laughs for a whole three minutes.

"Oh, Jiwoo." Sooyoung clutches at her stomach, losing her balance. The wash room's door swings open, and 2-3's Roh Jisun enters to find Sooyoung on the floor.

"So you finally figured it out?" Jisun asks Jiwoo dryly, making her way to the corner of the room and pulling out her phone. As innocent as Jisun looks, Jiwoo knows not to underestimate her; she could text choir club's Jiwon right now, effectively exposing Jiwoo's oopsie to the entire student body. Jiwoo would be none the wiser.

"Gyuri may or may not be going through a mental breakdown because of you right now. I'm just saying."

"Bless your heart, Jiwoo," Sooyoung wheezes. "You better make it up to her after this!"

Jiwoo tries to keep this all in mind when she meets up with Gyuri later, at the designated spot. If Jisun and Sooyoung and heck, even Hyunjin knew what's going to go down, then she should at least do her best to follow through with it all.

"So?" Gyuri, with her cute eye smile and tiny, nervous wave, says. "Not what you expected, right?"

Jiwoo thinks of how, back when the school year started, she entered the gardening club's room instead of the one assigned for drama club auditions. At the time, no one was fawning over her, finding her cute, wanting to date her. No one liked of the idea of her. No one even knew her.

But Jiwoo remembers Gyuri's smile. How Gyuri laughed when Jiwoo explained that she was lost. The way Gyuri held her hand and suggested they carve something into the most newly replanted tree, a symbol representing the start of their self proclaimed best friendship. Scratched alongside each other, the faint characters of their given names remain.

And Jiwoo might have known nothing about love, but there was something about how a complete stranger so willingly bared herself to the world, kind and brave and warm, that made Jiwoo think that maybe love was something worth learning about.

Which is, in hindsight, sounds fucking dramatic.

"But I like that about you, Kim Jiwoo." Gyuri says, slightly sheepish but so very endeared. "It just means you care, you know?"

"Thanks," Jiwoo replies. It's a dumb way to reply to a confession, but Gyuri laughs anyway. Gyuri likes her anyway, so really, maybe Jiwoo does know a thing or two about love after all.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! good night have a great weekend


End file.
